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The Kentucky High School Athletic Association has a way of dealing with court orders: They warn school officials not to follow them.
At the beginning of the 2007 school year, Elmer Patrick filed a lawsuit against the KHSAA when his son Alex was found ineligible to play football after he transferred from Williamsburg High School to Whitley County High School.
A Whitley County Circuit Judge ordered that Alex be allowed to play.
But school officials sent Elmer Patrick a letter saying that if the school followed the court order, it could face sanctions from the KHSAA.
Elmer Patrick, a former state legislator from Whitley County, said he was dumbfounded.
"The KHSAA has more power and less oversight than any agency I know of," he said.
Overruling the court
Under KHSAA bylaws, the agency may require a school to forfeit games, go on probation, or pay a fine if it follows a court order that goes against a decision by the agency.
Gilbert Wilson, the retiring athletics director at Pulaski County High School, said a few years ago his school followed a judge's order to play a student ruled ineligible by the KHSAA. The KHSAA warned the school that it could be sanctioned if the court order was ever overturned.
"We were caught between a rock and a hard place," said Wilson, "but when a judge orders you to do something, you do it."
Pulaski County was not punished, he said.
But in 2005, Highlands High School in Fort Thomas was fined, the football coach was suspended for three games and the school had to forfeit about a dozen games after the school obeyed a similar court order and allowed a student deemed ineligible by KHSAA to play.
Change in rules sought
In March, state Board of Education member Doug Hubbard proposed adding language to the bylaws that "no school or person shall be punished for following a court order."
But the amendment did not pass because KHSAA Commissioner Brigid DeVries argued that it was not fair to the opposing team to allow students who've been ruled ineligible by the KHSAA to participate in games -- even if the court says they can.
DeVries told the board that Indiana and Tennessee also have rules that allow athletic associations to punish schools if the court order is later overturned.
Doing away with Kentucky's rule, she said, would allow a school to ignore KHSAA rules simply because someone files a lawsuit.
Getting ready to play
Alex Patrick is excited about practicing for the 2008 football season after sitting out. He had transferred to take Spanish classes that aren't offered at Williamsburg.
"When I found out that I was ineligible, it took the life right out of me," Alex said. "Why would anyone want to do that to a 17-year-old boy?"Going to court
